Question

What are some of the roles that tool use and climate change may have played in shaping the adaptive flexibility and evolutionary success of H. habilis relative to australopithecines living at the same time? How might modern climate change and the development of technology influence human adaptive flexibility and our evolutionary future?

Answer 1

Climate change in the early Pleistocene led to the spread of a grassland environment as well as increasing habitat and resource diversity. Compared to the australopithecines, early H. habilis experienced an enlargement of the brain and a general gracilization of the chewing complex. These developments were linked with an increased focus on tool production, increased dietary diversity and increased intelligence. A larger brain size correspondent with the use of tool, and it explains the tool use became more important in H. habilis. The chewing muscles and teeth of H. habilis are smaller than the australopithecines, which can be explained by using Oldowan stone tools rather than teeth as basic tools. In addition, H. habilis had a more generalized diet than the australopithecines; many of them specialized on a narrow range of foods.   

The evolution of H. erectus- w/ its increased intelligence and full commitment to material culture as an adaptive strategy- set the stage for the emergence and evolution of Homo sapiens. Biological characteristics are the common components of how humans socially define races; human populations display variation in features such as stature, hair and skin colour, which corresponds with the environmental conditions. This variation can be used to identify trends in the population structure and history of our species, and patterns of environmental adaptation. Culture and technology were clearly crucial to the successful colonization of the modern human species. They allowed us to occupy most regions of the planet through the use of fire, housing, watercraft, versatile tools and cognition, which enormously improved our ability to hunt and forage for food in significantly different environments, and in the process, to occupy more environmental niches than most other species.